RTP provider Vortek obtains new funding

VANCOUVER - Chip-equipment startup Vortek Industries Ltd. has received a round of funding and disclosed new data about its rapid thermal processing (RTP) tool for 200- and 300-mm production.

The Vancouver-based company has received $4.1 million in funding from its current shareholders.

It has also revealed the latest results about its RTP tool, dubbed the FlashFire. FlashFire makes use of a water-wall arc lamp in both the continuous and flash modes to enable processing of ultra-shallow junctions in IC designs.

In the company's RPT tool, the wafer is first brought up to a temperature of about 700 degrees Celsius at several hundred degrees a second. Then, the entire front surface receives a pulse of energy that brings it up to 1300 degrees Celsius in a millisecond.

"This means that Vortek RTP tools cover the full temperature envelope required for ultra-shallow junction anneals. We already have data meeting the requirements of the 32-nm node, and are progressing further from there," stated Reg Allen, Vortek's CEO.